Travel icon depicting Christ Pantocrator - 19th century

Height × width: 18.5 × 15 cm Weight: 526 g.
Bronze casting and polychrome enamels
Depicted half-length according to the canons of the earliest Russian tradition, the Savior, with a fixed and stern gaze directed at the viewer, raises his right hand in a gesture of blessing (often characterized by the dvuperstie, the two joined fingers typical of the Old Believers), while with his left he holds the open Gospel, a symbol of divine Law.Enhancing the object is the chromatic contrast of the background, filled with opaque enamels in shades of blue and white. The scene is framed by a border of stylized vegetal motifs running along the entire perimeter. This icon belongs to the group of Russian Old Believer icons, mass-produced from the 17th century onward and characterized by a strict adherence to the canons of the Byzantine tradition. Such artifacts, often made of bronze and sometimes enriched with colored enamels, were generally small in size and intended for private devotion. Their portability made them easy to carry and, if necessary, to conceal, thus meeting the religious needs of a community that, after the schism known as the Raskol, experienced periods of persecution by the official Russian Orthodox Church.



Item condition grading: **** good.
The lot is in a good state of preservation with the normal wear and defects commensurate with its age and use over time.